


Trail of Lightning

by ironmansassistant



Series: 10 Ways you Meet Team Flash [12]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Multi, Romance, meta human reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 12:47:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8980318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironmansassistant/pseuds/ironmansassistant
Summary: After shutting themselves away from the world for nearly a year, the reader sees something they need to follow, leading them right to the doors of STAR Labs and into new dangers.Ability: Aura detection and astral trails





	

**Author's Note:**

> This ended up being longer than I planned (Part one is over 2500 words) so I’m going to have to split it into parts. Takes place some time in early season 1, before anyone knows about EoWells, and I took some liberties explaining the “speed force” since I’m actually only partway through season 2 >.> Hope you like it!
> 
> PS for people that know science: I’m sorry. I googled stuff and things came up and here we are.

Your vision was always cluttered. Ever since the particle accelerator exploded you found it difficult to navigate the busy streets of Central City, and trying to dampen your new sight gave you intense migraines. So you put up with seeing people’s astral trails, the lines that followed them wherever they went. But with a job that let you work from home, and apps that delivered whatever you wanted, it was easy to stay inside. Honestly, you weren’t really sure when the last time you’d gone out was. You tended to hide in your apartment, only venturing into the open air when you stepped onto your balcony for some natural source of light.  
But whenever you did you only saw the blurry colours of the people below. Some of them were fading away, from so long ago the person was probably dead by now. Others were fresh and wavy, some perfectly straight like a pipe running through the streets. None of them that unique when stuck in a city with millions of people.  
That was, until you saw one that shone so bright you had to squint. Even from the fourteenth floor you could see the yellow line zigzagged up and down as it moved forward, like electricity travelling through the air. Not only did it still move when you looked at it, you could feel it’s energy from your apartment. Normally you had to walk right through a trail to really feel it, and even then it was rare. But that line...it was like nothing you’d ever seen or felt before. It was enough to make you leave your apartment.  
Oddly worried that the line would vanish when you looked away, you threw on a cardigan and headed out the door. The trail was still there when you made it to the street, passing right in front of your building. Looking left and right you could tell whoever the line belonged to went left and began to follow.  
After nearly an hour of walking you began to question if the line would ever end. Whoever it was darted between the road and the sidewalk, and the way the trail faded made it seem as if they had moved from your building to where you currently stood within seconds. After a few more minutes of walking you finally gave up and hailed a taxi, climbing in and telling them to just start driving.  
“Where to?” the driver asked.  
“Uh, that way,” you replied. “I’ll...tell you as I go?”  
He looked at you a moment before shrugging and driving. Thankfully he didn’t ask questions, nor did he care that the only speaking you did was telling him where to go. Finally, after twenty minutes, and over the bridge, you saw where the trail ended.  
STAR Labs.   
You instructed the driver to drop you off on a random corner, well within walking distance of the labs but far enough away that whoever was in there wouldn’t see you. It took you a few moments and deep breaths just to pay the driver and climb out of the cab.   
Was it a coincidence that the first trail that was like no other leaded to the very place that gave you your abilities? Well, the place you assumed gave you this ability. You didn’t think an explosion in a particle accelerator and seeing a human’s energy suddenly were just a coincidence. And neither was this. You wondered what was going on within the lab to produce the electric trail you’d followed, and knew the only way to find out was by going inside.  
You swallowed your fear and began to head for the lab, unsure of how you were actually going to get in. If you knocked on the door and asked about any strange people in the area that person would definitely point to you.  
Rather than taking the front door like a normal person you followed the yellow trail all the way to the back where you found a large set of bay doors. Beside them was a door, propped open with a brick. Looking over your shoulder and checking for cameras, you found nothing and cautiously stepped inside. The trail zipped into the small garage where a few trucks were parked, and then through another open doorway.  
“Hello?” you called out, scared you would be shot on sight. A place like STAR Labs must have some major security, even after the accident. You didn’t completely understand what they worked on here, which made it seem more important.  
Your footsteps were slow and quiet as you moved past the vehicles. The area was dimly lit, but from what you could see you were still alone. You walked to the far open doorway, noticing now that there were more yellow lines. These ones were dim, old. They still buzzed with the same electricity as the new one, but they didn’t burn as much.   
You kept going, peeking around corners before moving down the corridor. Eventually you reached an elevator and pressed the button, no other options in sight. When the doors opened you half expected someone to be there, but there was nobody.  
Stepping inside you looked at the buttons, finding only one had it’s number rubbed slightly off. Figuring it was used the most you pressed it, and watched as the trail travelled with you in the elevator. You stood to the side, watching it with a smile as it went through the floor to the ceiling, never faltering. You reached out to touch it, for the first time since you saw it, and felt it’s heat full force, forcing yourself to pull back. Your skin was on fire, and though only the side of your hand had touched it the heat travelled through you. You hissed, inspecting your hand and finding it red and already beginning to welt.  
The elevator dinged and the doors opened, and this time you weren’t alone. You almost didn’t notice the man right away, too busy trying not to freak out over the fact the yellow trail had burned you. What if you had driven into it in the taxi? Or tried just walking right through it at your apartment? None of the other trails had ever hurt before. You gulped down the many thoughts of you burning to a crisp and turned to finally face the figure in the corner of your eye.  
“Uh, hi,” you said to the long haired man. He was wearing a graphic tee with an image of the galaxy on it, and on the right a little pin to note Earth’s location. You almost giggled at it, and you would have if your hand didn’t feel like it was about to burn off. You gripped your other hand around your wrist, squeezing tight to make sure you didn’t start poking the wound. While it didn’t make sense, that’s what your brain wanted to do very badly at that moment.  
“Who are you? How did you…” His eyes fell to your hand. “Are you burned? You weren’t burned when I saw you on the camera…” His brow furrowed. You observed his trail, while still yellow it wasn’t the same bright shade as the other one. It was a little paler, dimmer, but warm. You could feel his warmth. Butterflies took off in your stomach, and you weren’t sure if they were from him or simple nerves at being where you were.  
“I did burn my hand,” you told him, holding up your wound to prove you weren’t lying. You stepped out of the elevator and he regarded you with caution. It was kind of funny watching him take a step back, eyes narrowing on you. You looked to your right and watched the bright trail disappear around the corner, to a path you didn’t think you would be getting to anytime soon. It wasn’t until you started to take another step that you realized you’d have to go through the trail to get any help.   
Just as you started to retreat the elevator doors shut.  
“I’m Y/N,” you said.  
“Cisco.” His eyes went to your hand again as his lips pursed. Any suspicion he had for you seemed to take a backseat to helping you. “Uh, I can help you with that over here.” He pointed over his shoulder towards a bright lab.  
“Yes, that would be...useful.” You looked at the trail, sitting right at chest level and leaving you no wiggle room as it shot down the hall.  
Cisco started to back up, waiting for you to start moving. When you didn’t he furrowed his brow. “Are you…”  
“Coming? Yes,” you said. “I just have to...walk over there...with my...feet.” You took a step forward, inches away from the burning line. “Oh, my shoe is untied!” You fell to the ground and began to quickly untie and retie your shoelace, wiggling your way beneath the yellow. Navigating below the trail you scooted backwards and popped back up facing the elevator. “All done! Didn’t want to trip.”  
“Fire!” Cisco yelled.   
“What?” You whirled, facing his frantic face.  
“You’re hair’s on fire!” That was when you felt the heat on top of your hair. You let out a shriek and began to panic as Cisco whipped his overshirt off and came at you, covering your head. You weren’t sure who was screaming louder, him or you. When you were able to throw the shirt off, the fire out, your chest heaved with each breath. Pressing your hands onto your head, it didn’t feel like there were any bald spots though the hair was kind of rough. You smoothed your hair back, your breathing becoming even.  
You met Cisco’s warm brown eyes, noting his energy had become more frantic with the event. “Thanks.”  
“Your head just...spontaneously combusted,” Cisco replied. He pointed at your hand. “Like your hand--you’re a meta. You light things on fire? But you aren’t immune to it?”  
“I didn’t do that the trail did!” you shouted. Realizing what you’d said you covered your mouth. “I mean...fire? What fire?”  
“Trail?” Cisco repeated.  
“Hmm?” You arched your brows, holding your hand again, heart racing. Damn, this was bad. “What was that?”  
“You said the trail did that,” Cisco said.  
You rolled your eyes towards the ceiling, bouncing on your heels in an attempt to shaky a good excuse out of your brain. Nothing good came, and you really had no way to explain away your head lighting on fire. “Well, they’ve never hurt me, this particular astral trail has a lot more energy than the others and all…”  
Cisco’s mouth opened in a wide smile. “You can see people’s astral trails?” Now he was bouncing up and down.  
“Yes?” You put your hands up in a shrug when the back of your already injured hand hit the yellow trail. You quickly retracted, jumping forward with a hiss. “And that one is just really hot!”  
Cisco pulled your hand into his to inspect your new growing welt. Not actually touching the injury, he tilted his head to the right, eyes travelling over the wound. “It must be Barry’s,” he mused, “the speed force is creating too much energy for your body to handle…”  
You leaned forward. “What was that?”  
As Cisco looked up at you you realized how close your faces were. Noses only an inch apart you held your breath as he held his. You stood there a moment, your hand in his, so close that you couldn't move. Suddenly the elevator dinged and he dropped your hand, stepping back.  
You turned to see a tall young man walk in, bright green eyes curious as they landed on you. “Hey, Cisco,” he said, “who…?”  
“Barry!” Cisco shouted. “This is Y/N.”  
“Barry?” you repeated. It was then that you saw the energy that surrounded Barry. Bright sparks of lightning bounced around him, small but unmistakably the same as the trail you had followed to STAR Labs. You stepped back as he came forward, only a few steps out of the elevator, and bumped into Cisco. “No no, don’t come near me!” You could already feel the heat coming off him.  
Thankfully Cisco did the same and held up a hand to his friend.  
“What’s going on?” he asked, furrowing his brow.   
“Uh, short story even shorter?” Cisco said. “They can see the speed force and it hurts them so you are like one big ball of fire.”  
“More like lightning,” you added. You looked down at your hand, feeling the burn travel up your arm.

Cisco and Barry called their friend Caitlin to come help with any more injuries you developed. The first thing you noticed about her was the way she smiled at you despite the colours that surrounded her; something between a muddy green-blue. It was so negative compared to Cisco and Barry, yet she hid it completely. It made an ache resonate in your chest.  
Much of the lab was blocked off by sparky yellow bolts from Barry travelling around, though you noticed as he walked the line wasn’t quite as bad. It almost appeared normal, and you took a risk to touch the faded line to find it didn’t burn--it was hotter than normal, but you could pass through it. It felt like walking in front of a heater.  
With your hand freshly bandaged, and your story explained to the trio, you started to ask questions about Barry. Why did he have such a strange line sometimes? What was the speed force? Why did it hurt so much? What was going on at STAR labs?  
All of your questions were met with nervous smiles and a promise to explain; they were more interested in seeing why you could see what you could. You allowed Caitlin to take blood and scans of your brain, and so far they only came up with one thing.  
“It isn’t a form of synesthesia like we thought,” Caitlin explained, looking down at a scan of your brain. “Your blood work came back perfectly normal.”  
“And the brain scan?” you asked, nervous that she hadn’t said how that went first. You sat on the small bed in the lab, wondering if she was going to tell you this was all just a brain tumour and you have five minutes left to live.  
Instead, she answered, “There’s more activity in your brain that the average person. Specifically in the posterior superior temporal sulcus. Right about...here.” She used a pen to point behind your ear. “It’s the part of the brain that reads facial expressions and body language.”  
Cisco stood beside you, looking closely at the place Caitlin had pointed. You started to feel self conscious with him there, staring so intently at you. He said, “So you think that’s allowing them to read auras?”  
“Auras?”  
“A person’s magnetic field,” Cisco clarified. “You called them astral trails so maybe you’re just seeing a specific magnetic field--which would explain why you can see Barry’s when he...uh…” He looked to his friend who stood a little ways away, due to your request. He still let off a little glow.  
“I think we can tell them,” Barry said. “Probably shouldn’t show them though.” He scratched at the back of his neck.  
“Tell me what?” you asked.  
Cisco lit up excitedly, bouncing again on his heels. “Can I say it?”  
Barry held his hand out to his friend, allowing him the pleasure. Cisco told you, “Barry’s the Flash!”  
“The Flash?” you questioned. “You mean that scarlet streak guy?” You looked Barry up and down as he nodded. “Seriously?”  
Despite seeing what you could you arched your brows at the trio. “I know you guys believed me and all, and I’m glad you don’t think I’m crazy but...a guy that can travel so fast nobody can see? Come on.”  
Cisco looked to Caitlin then Barry. “Maybe we will have to show them.”


End file.
